The Write-A-Story Calendar Day 10: A Matter of Style

Okay, so tomorrow we'll start writing, but first, a few words about style. You have a voice of your own of course, all writers do, but have you thought about the fact that you actually use several writing styles? At least for me, my style changes to accommodate the story I'm writing: prose poem stylings won't do for a sci-fi adventure, and plain but functional prose might be frowned upon in a literary piece. The story should of course still sound like you, but just the version of you that fits this particular story.

So, take a moment to think about your story. Is there something you need to take into account, style-wise? As we discussed yesterday, point of view is a part of this process as well, especially for a first person narrative when you're filtering the story through the mind of a character.

Genre also presents some restrictions. You don't want your Gothic romance to sound too modern or your cutting edge cyberpunk tale to sound twee, and having your teenage protagonist sound like a sixty-year-old curmudgeon probably won't work too well. And who is your target reader? Will he be able to handle all those big words you're throwing his way?

This is also a good time to take note of any personal stumbling stones that tend to crop up in any story you write. Do you use too much passive voice? Do you have a tendency to keep the reader at an arm's length with unnecessary sense words (we'll talk about this more when we discuss writing deep point of view)? Are you sensitive to flow, or does your prose get clunky or overly complicated if you're not paying attention? Do you easily slip into clichés instead of coming up with your own metaphors? Are you overly fond of the word "obsidian"? (Yep, most of these are or have been mine at some point.) You can fix all this when editing, but it can save you a bit of work if you keep it in mind while writing and try to avoid going there in the first place.

You're writing the story first and foremost for you, for your own pleasure, but if somebody else reads it, you don't want your style to mess with the reading experience but rather to enhance it. (Unless you're James Joyce. I'm pretty sure he took a perverse pleasure in messing with people's heads.)

So, show us your style!

The Write-A-Story Calendar Day 9: Points of View

You're pretty much set to start writing your story now, but there's still an important decision to make: which point of view are you going to pick?

You can't go wrong with third person limited (he/she). It's probably the most popular choice. It gives you the intimacy of getting in the protagonist's head, but still retains a bit of distance. You can get away with a bit more regarding the character's voice with third person than with first person, and the majority of books are written in third person, so it might feel familiar and easy to write. To avoid head-hopping, third person limited is probably a better choice than third person omniscient, though it might feel familiar from a lot of classics and children's books. It's tricky to do well, though. If you have a very strong voice as a writer, the best way to showcase it might be third person omniscient, where you're acting as a kind of narrator to the story.

The other mainstream option would be first person (I), which has the advantage of being easier for some writers, because you're automatically in one person's head and point of view and it's easier to convey that person's thoughts and feelings when you're writing first person. The tricky part is that character voice matters a lot more in first person narratives, and it's easy to slip up if the character voice is very different from your own.

Second person (you) . . . Well, go there at your own peril. Not the easiest sell, and tends to annoy readers and editors alike.

Once you've settled on a point of view, you also need to pick a tense, past or present. Past tense is the more common of the two, but present tense can go well with first person narratives.

Not sure which point of view to pick? Do a practice run. You can always change it later.

The Write-A-Story Calendar Day 8: Do Your Research

So, you've got your characters, a rough outline of the character arcs and story structure, and maybe an idea of the story title and theme. It's almost time to start writing, but do you know enough about the subject matter to write the story?

Check your outline. You're doing a short story, so you don't really want to spend weeks and weeks on research. To avoid wasting time, come up with specific questions that you need answered. Do you need to research the protagonist's profession? Maybe she does a specific operation that you need to know more about, or if you're writing science fiction, you might need too brush up on how black holes work, for example. Time to hit Google, or maybe the local library. Or, if you're writing about lion tamers and you happen to know somebody who happens to be a lion tamer, go pick their brain, maybe even ask them to read the finished story later if they're willing. (Be sure to follow this up with cake or pie or maybe some movie tickets unless they're your critique partner and you can pay them in kind.)

Sometimes you can't find the info you need. It might be easier to circumvent the problem by changing the story, if the issue is a minor detail. Think about your options, just don't get stuck. If an issue comes up while writing, just make a note and keep going so you don't lose momentum. Much easier to figure out that detail later.

While doing research, pay attention to interesting details and anecdotes. Those help make your story feel more real and unique.

If you're writing a period piece or setting your story in a foreign country, don't forget to research the language stuff. You don't want your 16th century knight to talk like a modern emo kid, now do you?

Museums are pretty great for research, too. Many have informative websites that you can browse even if you can't manage a visit.

And above all, have fun!

Previous posts:

Day 1: The Big Idea
Day 2: Cool Characters

Day 3: Plot Play

Day 4: A Stunning Setting

Day 5: Structural Integrity

Day 6: Arc-ane Knowledge

Day 7: Thinking Thematically

The Write-A-Story Calendar Day 7: Thinking Thematically

Nope, we're still not starting to write. I know theme is a slippery subject, and many writers prefer to let it develop organically, as in they don't give it conscious thought before writing, but as you now have a rough sort of outline, it might be beneficial to see if something stands out.

Here are a few questions to think about:

• What are you trying to say with your story?
• Is the story accidentally saying something offensive that you absolutely don't want to say? If so, how to fix it?
• Are you making an argument with the story? Are some of the characters symbols? Do they represent different sides of the issue? Have you given space for different viewpoints without taking sides, letting the characters speak for themselves?
• Does the story come across as preachy? (Nobody likes being lectured to.)
• Why this particular story? Is it saying something important to you or are you figuring out some issue in your own life by writing the story? (You probably are, even if you don't see it right away.)
• are there multiple themes?

Once you've figured out some of these questions, you might think a bit about your story title. Ideally it will resonate with your theme or be a metaphor for that theme on some level while making sense, story-wise.

Previous posts:

Day 1: The Big Idea
Day 2: Cool Characters

Day 3: Plot Play

Day 4: A Stunning Setting

Day 5: Structural Integrity

Day 6: Arc-ane Knowledge

Happy One-hundredth, Finland!

Finland is one hundred years old today! Here are some pics from celebrations here in Turku.

The Write-A-Story Calendar Day 6: Arc-ane Knowledge

Now that you've tinkered about with the structure of your story, let's talk a bit about character arcs. Is you main character on a positive change arc, a flat arc, or maybe a negative change arc?

• The positive arc is basically the 'hero's journey,' where the character embarks on an inner journey to become a better person (involves rejecting 'the lie she believes' and discovering a fundamental truth about herself that allows her to solve the outer conflict of the story (the plot)). You can even think of the plot as a metaphor for the character's inner journey, a handy tip I learned from reading K. M. Weiland's blog.
• The flat arc is about a character changing the world, not herself.
• The negative change arc, or the fall arc, has the character going from bad to worse, usually. Or from good to evil, maybe.

As with story structure, with character arcs I'll refer you to K. M. Weiland's excellent series of posts for a thorough review of the subject.

So that's one way to look at it. You could also try Chuck Wendig's method of coming up with three beats for the character, like if you were describing the Count of Monte Cristo, it might be: naive sailor -> mysterious figure without pity seeking vengeance-> lets go of vengeance and embraces mercy, man at peace with himself.

However you approach it, some kind of change is usually a good idea in a short story, or you might discover that you don't actually have a story at all, just a vignette or an essay or a mood piece.

And don't forget about the secondary characters. They could benefit from a character arc too.

Previous posts:

Day 1: The Big Idea
Day 2: Cool Characters

Day 3: Plot Play
Day 4: A Stunning Setting

Day 5: Structural Integrity

The Write-A-Story Calendar Day 5: Structural Integrity

Want to learn story structure? The place to go is K. M. Weiland's blog Helping Writers Become Authors. I'm not going to repeat all that here, because I couldn't explain it half as well as she does, but I do recommend you check out the site if you're not familiar with it.

A short story has more room for playing around with experimental structures than a novel, so the traditional structure might not fit, but if you're doing an adventure/action story, you might benefit from hammering together a crude structure before beginning. Once you know the key scenes of the story, it's much easier to write it without running into a narrative brick wall at some point. And how to do it? Don't worry, it's easy:

• inciting event
• 1st plot point (25 % of story)
• 1st pinch point 
• midpoint spectacle (50 %)
• 2nd pinch point 
• 3rd plot point (75 %)
• climax (90 %)
• denouement

Basically, that's all you need. The inciting event draws the character into the story, the first plot point is the disaster that locks her in. The pinch points have the antagonist show her power and illustrate what's at stake. The midpoint is where the character goes from reacting to acting because of a revelation about the nature of the conflict, and as this bit can feel a bit slow, that's usually a good place for a few explosions and other exciting stuff. The third plot point is the moment of despair before the final showdown which forces the protagonist to make some hard choices. Climax is the final showdown, and denouement is a humorous, warm and fuzzy, or contemplative moment that allows the reader to say goodbye to the characters.

I'm not saying you need to use this structure for your story, but if you do, you can be pretty sure the story will work on a structural level.

Previous posts:

Day 1: The Big Idea
Day 2: Cool Characters

Day 3: Plot Play
Day 4: A Stunning Setting